Best way of taking money to Australia

[supraboy]

I'm soon to arrive in Perth on a 1 year WHV with my partner and could do with some advice on what method is best of getting your money there.

My sister who did this 4 years ago, said she just took it in cash, in a bum bag.... we don't want to do that!

What is the best method of doing this? I cant transfer into our oz bank account because apparently we need to set that up when we arrive, and i'm not sure about transferring it all into my sisters account who lives there because of any transfer fees and also will there rate be any good?

This is going to be a 5 figure sum, so rate is pretty important!

Thanks

Chris

[Jader1973]

Check the Commonwealth Bank website - you used to be able to set up an account through their UK office.

I expect they'll charge you similar fees to move from your UK account to your Aus account as you'd pay if you moved it to your sister's account though - you'll never beat the banks!

[jagsy]

Hi
Get here with amount you need set up Aus bank account.

Use an online currency transfer agency. For example HIFX, FOREX.

Hope that's of help

[custardtart]

We opened a Comm Bank account from the UK but used OzForex to bring any funds of reasonable size over. Don't use the banks for international transfers, the rates tend to be poor.

[Lambchopski]

I use www.halofinancial.com

By far the best and easiest way to move money at the best rate.

[scott15]

When i went to Australia, i took $200 with me, and sent up an account when i got there.

I then transferred my money from my English account (Nationwide) to my Australian account (Westpac).

I had huge problems with this way of doing it though. Nationwide said my money had been sent, so was no longer in my English account, and Westpac said they hadn't recieved anything.

Eventually after almost daily contacting Westpac and Nationwide, with pretty much 0 help from either, i recieved my money, a month after it was sent!

[StefanVXR8]

We set up Westpac accounts in the UK, had our Eftpos cards sent over and then when we arrived we popped in to a branch and ordered our debit cards.

We used CurrencyFair to do all our money transfers. They offered the best rates and very, very low commission.

Stef

[supraboy]

Thanks for all your replies guys.

Currently thinking the best way of doing this is to use a 3rd party like MoneyCorp or Halo and get it transferred from our UK accounts into my sisters AUS account. Then once we arrive, we can get money out of her account, keep a tab, whilst we set up a bank account, then get it all transferred over. That seems to be the simplest and risk free method.

It seems like these 3rd parties can offer a better rate then the banks, is that the general thinking of everybody else?

Thank You.

Chris